Sun Darkened & Stars Fall From Heaven

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Hey, everybody. I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

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We truly believe that it's important for the Christian church to have an engagement in the public square with the

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Though I'd love to be, I am not your pastor. And it's very important as you're watching this, you know that it's

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. Okay, open your Bibles to the gospel according to Matthew chapter 24.

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Matthew chapter 24. I want to just say ahead of time that because we're near the end of this series, again three more total sermons including today to go in terms of unpacking the

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Olivet Discourse, the Great Tribulation, I cannot review today in the sermon all that has been done.

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I encourage you guys to go and go online and find these sermons. Go through each one. We spend a lot of time unpacking in great detail every verse in this discourse.

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And so today I will not be giving you every detail once again. But Matthew chapter 24 is the

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Olivet Discourse. As I was saying as we open today, this particular section of scripture is vitally important.

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And for Matthew's narrative, for Matthew's gospel, I want to say that it's here for a reason in terms of what

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Matthew knows about the scope and narrative of scripture. It's of course part of the climax of not only

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Matthew's story, but listen closely, the story of the covenant people Israel.

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So get that and you'll understand everything that I've been saying. Everything that I've been saying in terms of Christ coming in judgment.

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This is not a passage about the second coming or the final resurrection and judgment.

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This is a judgment coming of Christ as the covenant Lord coming to bring covenant sanctions against the people of Israel.

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If you'll remember all that we've been doing up to this point, Matthew very precisely orders all that's happening to this point to demonstrate that Jesus comes into Jerusalem and he is now indicting the religious leadership and the covenant breakers and promising judgment upon them.

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The context here is a particular context in terms of the ministry of Jesus Christ, the earthly ministry of Jesus, but the context of here is a context of the story of God and the whole narrative of scripture.

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So here's the point, everything that we've been doing in terms of precision and verse by verse and word for word is to demonstrate that this particular passage sums up the story about the covenant people of God.

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The destruction of the temple, the destruction of the covenant people, the bringing of the covenant sanctions of Deuteronomy chapter 28 is right before us.

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This is not a passage about the final resurrection and the coming, the final coming of Christ, which we affirm and we're ready to die for.

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This is a passage about the coming and judgment of the son of man upon the covenant breakers and the full inauguration and breaking end of his rule and reign in history to bring about what you see in front of you right now.

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So as we get to the text, I want to just say this, there's the summary, so you understand what's happening, where we've been so far.

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So you say, why does all of this matter? Let me just say, because it ties the room together. It ties the whole story together.

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That's what this is all about. But listen closely. We take this for granted. If you look around the room right now,

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I want to just highlight the beauty of this moment. There are a lot of different colors in this room right now.

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A lot of different people in this room who would not identify as ethnically

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Jewish, in other words, descending from Israel physically. We have a room full of people now who are the descendants, most of us, of pagan ancestors.

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Now together in a room in the middle of a desert on the other side of the planet, worshiping and loving the

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Lord God of Israel because of Jesus. That is the summary of what's going on in the

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Olivet Discourse. The tying together of all the promises of covenant blessing and cursing and the full bringing in of the kingdom of God, the rule of Messiah Jesus, the throne of David, the

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King Messiah, ruling over the world, bringing all the nations to God. So as we get there, all that behind us,

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Matthew chapter 24, we are now in the section of scripture where people will say,

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Pastor Jeff, I get it. This generation is abundantly clear. All these things upon this generation.

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You will not all die. All those things are abundantly clear. There's no real exegetical way out of that without doing some kind of crazy theological gymnastics.

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It's clear Jesus is talking to those people about their generation and what was going to occur before they all die.

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And Pastor Jeff, I, by the way, I'm reciting what I've seen come to us online thus far. I see that you said, yes, these things are going to occur and they did.

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Temple taken apart, not one stone upon another, and it happens. It happened before they all died.

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The Roman army's coming to Jerusalem. They slaughter the Jews. It's a terrible, terrible part of human history.

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It is unbelievable. The crucifixes around Jerusalem, like a forest of dead bodies, blood flowing through the streets, the famine so bad people are eating dung and each other, including their own children, all of that.

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I see false teachers in that generation. Yes, in the scriptures and outside the scriptures in history.

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We know that that particular generation had false messiahs, had false prophets. We know the famine.

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We know the persecution. All of that, the delivering over to persecution. We see the abomination of desolation, the fleeing to the mountains.

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The Christians did that. Early Christian apologists and pastors, bishops would refer to this section of scripture to say it actually already happened.

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The Christians fled to Pella because they were given a divine warning when they saw the abomination of desolation, which

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Luke says when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you know it's time to flee. Early Christians used to refer to this passage as past tense.

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Already happened. However, there's no way that you can have the right interpretation if you're saying that this section of scripture is past fulfilled.

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It is preterist. It is past in fulfillment because Jesus says things here that are cosmological.

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Jesus uses language here that is impossible to have been fulfilled before 70

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AD. So let's go to the text. We're going to Matthew 24 and verse 27.

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Hear now the words of the living and the true God. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the

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Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is there the, some of you guys are reading from the

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ESV, the word that is behind vultures there is most commonly referred to here as eagles will gather.

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Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

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Thus far as the reading of God's Holy Word. So there we go, right? Couldn't be.

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Pastor Jeff, I listened to John Hagee and he said there's gonna be blood moons, baby. Right?

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Look at this. You say, well, why is it so important? Let me just give you just a small sampling. To say this is small would be a massive understatement.

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Some books off my shelf from back when I was a hardcore dispensational pre -millennial.

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Hal Lindsey, Planet Earth 2000 AD. Right? Argument in that book was essentially before 2000, man.

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We may not even make it to 2000. This is serious business. Rapture happening any moment. This is that final generation.

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Dave Hunt, how close are we? Compelling evidence for the soon return of Christ.

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1991 or 93. Planet Earth, the final chapter. Hal Lindsey, all arguing.

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We're the last generation that saw the signs of Matthew 24. We're in that final generation. It can't be much longer now.

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Tim LaHaye, the beginning of the end. Listen closely to this one. This is early 90s.

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How biblical prophecies are being fulfilled by world events, including the Gulf War and upheaval in the

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Soviet Union. Some of you guys are like, what was he referring to?

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That's the point. It doesn't matter. All that stuff came and gone. And the argument in these books from Tim LaHaye is that the generation that Jesus was referring to in Matthew 24, the generation that would see these things, was the generation that saw actually

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Israel become a nation again in 1948. And they were all saying in the 80s and 90s, they were saying, guys, it's one generation.

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Jesus says this generation will not pass away. Israel became a nation again in 1948. Guys, look, 1988.

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Right, that's our deadline. After 88 comes around, they're like, okay, wait, maybe we're just a little off here.

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Maybe a generation is 50 years. So 1998, 1998 comes and goes and everyone says, okay, maybe a generation's a hundred years.

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All right, let's just give us some grace here. Let's get some breathing room around generation. Here's the point.

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This kind of eschatology does damage. It damages the people of God.

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And let me just say this, individually it'll damage us and it will damage us as a church, as to our witness in the world.

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There are really two eschatologies here. Listen closely. Summary today. This is summary stuff.

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Okay. What is all this about, Pastor Jeff? Why does it matter to me? Why does it matter to my wife? Why does it matter to my kids and my family?

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This is big. There are two eschatologies really operating here. There's an eschatology of defeat and there is an eschatology of victory.

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I've argued that from Genesis to Revelation, there is only an eschatology of victory and the victory is seen in the ruling

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Messiah on David's throne, subduing all of God's enemies, bringing the entire world under King Jesus in total victory.

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So 1st Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul gives the story of Jesus. Just go read it and timeline it.

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This is Paul's story of Jesus' kingdom. He says Jesus did all these things, lived, died, and rose again.

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He is ascended. He is seated on the throne, which throne? The Davidic throne, the kingdom of God throne.

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And he says that he must reign, Jesus, he's reigning now, until all of God's enemies are put under his feet and then the last enemy to be defeated is death.

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So just consider Christian eschatology 101, according to the Apostle Paul, a fairly reliable source.

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He says Jesus is reigning now. On what? The Davidic throne.

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We're not waiting for a kingdom. He's on the throne now. He's ruling now and he says and he must reign until every enemy is under his feet as a footstool for his feet and then death is defeated.

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So what are we waiting for before death is finally defeated? Every enemy under the feet of Jesus.

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You know what's in this room right now? A bunch of ex -enemies under the feet of Jesus. People have been redeemed and rescued who now worship and love the

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Lord God of Israel because of Jesus. We are part of that process of history of Messiah bringing his victory.

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Now when we approach this text by saying every generation, oh, it's my generation.

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It's my generation. We're gonna get raptured out of here. We're gonna be taken out of here. We're gonna show you in two weeks that those who are left behind are the righteous, not the wicked.

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It's in the text itself. It cannot be avoided. We've literally flipped the text. We flipped it on its head.

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But here's the point in terms of eschatology. When people take this text each generation and say that's us.

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We're gonna get destroyed. We're gonna get out of here. That's us. That's our experience. It creates in the people of God a fixation upon departure and leaving rather than the fixation that Scripture wants us to have in terms of looking at the world and our mission in the world that we are called to bring the kingdom of God into every area of life bringing all things in the subjection of Jesus, bringing the gospel to every nation, teaching all the nations to obey.

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I say Jesus wins in history. Not just at the end of history of the final resurrection.

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I say according to the scriptures Jesus wins within history and finally death being defeated.

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It matters. This matters a great deal. And when we look before us at this particular text when people say,

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Pastor Jeff, I see it. Matthew 23 and 24. Jesus says their house is left in them desolate.

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Their temple is going to be taken apart. This generation will not pass away. All these things at the end of all this are gonna happen in this generation.

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By the way, that promise of all these things happening in this generation in verse 34 of Matthew 24, listen, takes place after the text before us today.

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So the Sun, the moon, the stars, that promise of what's going to happen in judgment, all of those things, the lightning from the east to the west, that is there and then

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Jesus says after it all these things are upon this generation. So we have to ask ourselves a question.

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Did these things happen or is Jesus a false prophet? I've mentioned to you guys before how important this is.

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I've mentioned as your pastor my my passion has been to teach you not only how to read the Bible correctly, but also to defend the faith.

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And I told you guys before about the debate between Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson at Westminster Seminary.

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And in the debate with Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson, Christopher Hitchens is losing the debate so badly from my perspective that he throws out one of the famous atheist chestnut arguments.

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And that's that Jesus didn't know the timing of his own coming. He gave false prophecy and what's he draw from?

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The Olivet Discourse. Why? Because Christians in the 21st century place this discourse future to us.

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Isn't it amazing? Early Christian church fathers are using this passage and people like John Calvin and John Gill and Lightfoot famous Christians in history, solid men of God, were referring to this passage as past tense using it to prove

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Jesus was the Messiah. We've got Christians today taking it putting it future to us and atheists see that and go false prophecy.

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Doug Wilson gets a chance to respond in that debate and in about 60 seconds or so, he takes

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Christopher Hitchens legs off by demonstrating that this happened exactly as Jesus said.

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And the language used here was common biblical language, dramatic prophetic hyperbole that God had used before when he was going to judge a nation.

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It all occurred exactly as Jesus said. So it is critical to get this right. But I know it's difficult as mostly

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Gentile Christians in the 21st century to approach a text like this and say how did that happen?

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Sun, moon, stars, lightning, like really that happened already? And I want to say this brothers and sisters is important for us.

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This is critical. We got to be humble about this. We've got to learn to read the Bible biblically and we always say like, oh,

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I do. I don't have traditions. Well, then you have lots of them because you're not examining them. We all have traditions. However, we say we want to read the

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Bible biblically, but the question is are we prepared to do it? Are we prepared to let the Bible interpret the

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Bible or are we gonna go to the Bible with our presuppositions that may actually be unbiblical and begin foisting those presuppositions upon the text doing damage to the discourse itself?

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Read the Bible biblically. First thing, let's look at the text. Get your Bibles ready today because we're gonna go as quickly as I can, but I want to get you guys into the

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Word of God and familiar with it. Here's the deal. Ready? Say Jeff, why does this matter today?

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It matters because it ties the story of the covenants together. It matters because it vindicates

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Christ as the Messiah and it matters because it demonstrates that Jesus is who he claimed to be.

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You can trust him. All of his promises are sure. They're yes and amen.

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You can trust him. So check it out. It says in verse 27, for as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the

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Son of Man. I'm going to talk about divine visitations in the

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Old Testament. Listen to that wording, divine visitations in the

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Old Testament. This language that Jesus uses here, listen, very important here, he's the

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Jewish Messiah. If he didn't come talking like this, we would have reason to suspect that he's not.

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Jesus now comes as the fulfillment of all of God's promises in the line of all the biblical prophets.

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Listen closely. Jesus comes after Isaiah. He comes after Ezekiel. He comes after Jeremiah.

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He comes after Daniel. They've already got these books. They're reading them in synagogue.

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They're laid up in the Jewish temple when Jesus is talking here. All those books are laid down.

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They know their prophets. And here now is Jesus, the ultimate prophet of Israel, the ultimate servant of God, coming in now promising covenant curses.

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And lo and behold, who's he talking like? Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, in the line of all the prophets using all the same language.

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Listen closely. The Chaldeans coming against Israel. Listen to the language

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God used before of the Chaldeans coming against Israel. I might go kind of fast here, guys, so forgive me because there's so many texts.

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So you might want to just write them down. If you want to refer, that's fine. But Habakkuk 1, 6, and 8.

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I'll read it. And I read the key. I use a lot of King James today because this this is going out all over the world and there's a lot of people who are in particular in fundamentalist, independent, separated

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Baptist churches that use the King James mostly. And I really want to talk to you. For lo,

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I raise up the Chaldeans. Their horsemen shall come from far.

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They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. So there's the

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Chaldeans coming against Israel. God says he raises the

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Chaldeans up. Their horsemen shall come from afar. They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

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So we have the idea of judgment. Chaldeans coming like an eagle to eat its prey.

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Notice the words here in the text again of 27. As the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the

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Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the eagles, vultures will gather.

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The word there, we're going to get into it later, is actually eagles. Cyrus is referred to as a bird of prey in Isaiah 46 10.

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It says this, I will do all my pleasure calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country.

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God again referring to Cyrus as a bird of prey coming from the east.

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Now here's another one in terms of a carcass. The people of God is a carcass. It says in Jeremiah 7 33 through 34, there's a carcass in Jeremiah.

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Judah and Jerusalem will become food for the predators. Here's where it says, quote, and the carcass of this people shall be meat for the, listen, fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

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For the land shall be desolate. Jeremiah 7 33 through 34. So capture that.

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God has used the language of a carcass, a corpse, and God calling the hand of his judgment, a foreign nation from the east or from a far country to come and devour the corpse.

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A bird of prey coming to devour the corpse, the rotting corpse. So here is

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Jesus now saying as the lightning comes from the east is to the west. There's that judgment language.

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So also will be the coming of the Son of Man. And it says, of course, wherever the corpse is, there the eagles will gather.

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Again, this is language that God used regularly in the prophets to describe, this is important, please follow me on this one, judgment coming upon his covenant people.

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When Jesus speaks like this, this is not a new experience for the covenant people.

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All they had to do when Jesus was saying this was literally open their Bibles. I did this because, did you get it?

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OK, got it. So they just open that scroll and read. Oh, this is, of course, what

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Isaiah said and Habakkuk said and Jeremiah said. Or here's another one. Jeremiah 19 7.

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And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem. Listen to the words there, Judah and Jerusalem in this place.

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And I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of them that seek their lives and their carcasses.

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Will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth?

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Jeremiah 19 7. There it is again. Another example of God raising up enemies to actually use as a hand of judgment on his covenant people.

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He refers to them as a corpse and he will call the fowls, those predator birds, to come and pick at the carcass of Jerusalem.

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And lo and behold, Jesus says, your temple is left to you desolate. These are the days of vengeance, all these things upon you.

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And as the lightning strikes from the east to the west, flashes from the east to the west, so also will the coming of the

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Son of Man be. That's powerful, isn't it? Another example against Assyria.

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This is Isaiah 30 27. Through 30, behold, the name of the

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Lord cometh from afar, from far, burning with anger and the burden thereof is heavy.

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His lips are full of indignation and his tongue as a devouring fire and his breath as an overflowing stream shall reach to the midst of the neck to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity.

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And there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err. And the

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Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard and shall shoo the lightning down of his arm with the indignation of his anger and with the flame of a devouring fire with scattering and tempest and hail stones.

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That's God speaking against Assyria. Are they around anymore?

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How does God talk about this fire? Consuming fire, hailstones, and what's

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God's judgment described against Assyria as here? lightning So when

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Jesus comes talking about the judgment upon the covenant breakers and the destruction of their people and that temple and he says

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Lightning from the east to the west a corpse and eagles picking at that corpse

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This is all in line with judgment language coming from all the prophets And Jesus is of course the premier jewish prophet and representative of israel and the prophets

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Another one in terms of lightning In verse zechariah 9 14

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It says and the Lord shall be seen over them and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning

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And the Lord God shall blow the trumpet and shall go with the whirlwinds of the south

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There's that dramatic prophetic Hyperbole that God uses often to describe his judgment now pause hit the pause button for a second

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It might be saying okay, but how does how does that work together? It's dramatic prophetic hyperbole

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This is in a way Judgment Best way I can say this I was saying it to elliot this week.

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It's like divine trash talk in a way I'm, always saying well like well, what's that look like?

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Well, it looks like egypt being destroyed It looks like assyria being destroyed looks like nebuchadnezzar being taken down It looks like the persians being taken out of the way

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It looks like actual judgment that falls on people and scatters their nation and destroys them

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But this is the language that God uses He uses this symbolic Metaphorical um hyper hyperbolic language to describe judgment lightning flashing corpses birds of prey constellations being taken out

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Now I want you to hear this. This is um A great book matthew 24 fulfilled by john bray encourage you to get it in your library, but uh, there's a good quote here

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Uh in this book. I wanted to read to you guys and it comes from John Gill and it was john gill by the way, anyone know who john gill is raise your hand if you know john gill is

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Okay All right. I've failed. All right John gill is the most famous of baptists john gill

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Was a theological ninja John gill was an amazing powerful mighty man of god and an incredible Exegete in terms of baptist history.

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We've got some giants john gill is at the top John gill get to know him get to know john gill john gill

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When speaking on this particular section Here's what he says he says

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So shall also the coming of the son of man be Which must be understood not of his last coming to judgment you catch that John gill's in this passage and he's saying this coming described here is not the second coming

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It's not the final resurrection. It's not that coming of christ he says

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Not as his last coming to judgment though That will be sudden visible and universal but of his coming in his wrath and vengeance to destroy that people their nation city and temple

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So that after this to look for the messiah in a desert or a secret chamber must argue great stupidity and blindness

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When his coming was as sudden visible powerful and general to the destruction of that nation

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As the lightning that comes from the east and in a moment shines to The west that was john gill king baptist

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Talking about this particular passage saying this isn't the final resurrection. This isn't the second coming of jesus

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This is talking about the judgment coming of the messiah Coming to destroy the nation of israel the covenant breakers in the nation of israel

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Not all of israel there was under judgment now Um, this is interesting

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To talk about this section here. I you notice that I changed the word there. How many guys have the esv right now?

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There's a number of different translations here of the word there when it says lightning from the east to the west

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It's very interesting now. Follow me. Now. You say what's neat? What's interesting about this?

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What's powerful? I think there's a lot going on here I think there's actually a depth to this section that is actually pretty mind -blowing and divine

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We see in the old testament that god used the language of birds of prey the carcass of his people

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That was a sign of judgment. We've seen in the old testament lightning as word used for judgment

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We've seen that but jesus is specific here. He says the coming of the son of man again not final coming in judgment, but the coming of judgment of the son of man the parousia the the

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The presence of messiah the coming of the messiah with a consequential presence, which is what parousia means

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He comes from the east to the west and there's a carcass and it says eagles The word there is eagles and thankfully we have one of I think the best uh gifts

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To our church by having pastor james as one of our elders and pastors He has worked as a critical consultant for the nasb bible translation

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Uh, we he's taught greek. Um, and he of course defends, uh, the bible all over the world going directly from the greek text

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Uh, he is, uh, he is he's a gift to the church And I of course, uh have the blessing of being able to ask him questions like hey

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Give me the details on the greek here. What's interesting is when I talked to him I asked him and he said the word here behind vultures would normally be eagles

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But most translations will render it in english as vultures due to the context of the corpses

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So the english translators will go to the text and what's normally a word for eagles We'll say well vultures because corpses

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But that kind of classification and division, you know, it's it's important to know that the text is actually normally eagles now

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Pastor james when I asked him the question He knew immediately what

32:47

I was getting at. So he says to me, so i'm guessing the eagles of the roman standards

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Think about it for a moment now we have the divine judgment talk normal We've got corpses birds of prey lightning judgment flashing

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And jesus now referring in that context to their judgment in that generation Says it's going to be like the lightning striking from the east to the west

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And it's going to be the eagles over the carcass. Isn't it interesting that the roman armies, you know, which direction they came from?

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From the east to the west And you know that it's an historical reality in fact a known thing

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That the roman armies had the eagles over their standards

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So when they came listen Marching to the carcass of jerusalem from the east.

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They were carrying the eagles standards Is that wild or what?

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Here's the lord. Jesus talking like a jewish prophet about their judgment and as he gives us the judgment language

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It just so happens that it perfectly matched the scenario Of the roman armies coming from the east in judgment by god's hands to the carcass of jerusalem while they're carrying their eagle standards

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And there's a very precise theological way of saying this and that's how do you like them apples

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So I wanted to read to you. Um a reference from another well -known theologian in particular

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Talking about this passage in particular and this is john lightfoot Page 130 of that book

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I referenced. Here's what he says. Listen closely in 1859 1859

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That by the way, just quick summary here the popular view. Please hear me on this. It's so critical when

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I learned it I was upset When I learned it

34:47

I was upset The popular eschatological view of the church in the west today

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Of dispensational pre -millennialism the idea of a secret rapture followed by seven years of tribulation that whole story

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Did not exist in the entire history of the church Until the middle of the 19th century

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Okay It didn't exist in the entire history of the church before the middle of the 19th century

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It was made popular by the uh, popular reference bible called the schofield reference bible

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That's where the view came from in 1859 John lightfoot says this for wheresoever the carcass is

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I wonder any can understand these words of pious men flying to christ when the discourse here is of quite a different thing

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They are thus connected to the foregoing christ shall be revealed with a sudden vengeance

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For when god shall cast off the city and the people grown ripe for destruction like a carcass thrown out the roman soldiers like eagles shall straight fly to it with their eagles ensigns to tear and Devour it and to this also agrees the answer of christ in luke

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When after the same words that are spoken here in this chapter, it was inquired where lord he answered wheresoever the body is

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Silently hinting thus much that jerusalem and that wicked nation which he described through the whole chapter

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Would be the carcass to which the greedy and devouring eagles would fly to prey

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Upon it that's lightfoot in the middle of the 19th century speaking on this particular text now

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Onward a final word here on this final word on this particular section. I know i'm going fast bear with me

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I'm going to do my best to make sure that you're instructed and taught. Well final word hosea 8 1

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Here's what it says quote Set the trumpet to my thy mouth Listen to what it says.

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Listen He shall come as an eagle against the house of the lord

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Because they have transgressed my covenant and trespassed against my law

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There again is the language There's the language god uses regularly

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Hosea 8 1 this is not a novelty. We don't have a right brothers and sisters as gentile christians to begin

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Redefining reinterpreting scripture in a way that actually does damage to the bible

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This is the way that god speaks about his judgment and you notice the words there in hosea.

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Did you notice them? Did you hear it? He shall come as an

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Eagle against the house of the lord why because of their violation of god's covenant of his law now just a quick thing

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I'm not going to do a big word study. I will next week on the coming of the son of man people get tripped up, right?

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We get tripped up because it says the coming of the son of man And what we do is we hear the word coming and we go

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Theological filter Second coming right coming of christ second coming.

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Here's the thing There are many comings of god in judgment in the old testament. It didn't refer to the final coming or resurrection

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There are comings in judgment of god, but this particular word here the coming of the son of man

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Here's the word in the greek parousia Parousia It actually is a familiar word in the first century context for those of you got your theological nerds and theology buffs

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Just know in the first century parousia was a known word that referred to the coming of royalty

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Or a king to a city where the king would come and not disappear

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But the royal appearing that royal coming of the king He would come be brought into the city then to reside with them

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So the parousia wasn't a coming and disappearing. It was a coming to be present It was a coming with a consequential presence

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But I wanted you to see this one text and I want you to go to this one to see it with your eyes And isaiah chapter 19 just quickly go to isaiah 19.

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I want to show you another example And we're going to spend more time on this next week But I want to show you an example at least for today so that you have time to work through it until next week about the lord

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Coming on a cloud riding on a cloud isaiah 19 1 this is of course, um concerning egypt

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It says an oracle concerning egypt behold The lord is riding on a swift cloud.

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Here's god coming on a cloud against who? egypt And it says and comes to egypt

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And the idols of egypt will tremble at his presence and the heart of the egyptians will melt within them

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So here is a text in isaiah 19 about 700 years before christ where the prophet isaiah is speaking about god's judgment against egypt as Yahweh riding on a swift cloud to judge egypt question, please come with me here question

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Are we to actually think To talk about this in such a way as we would say that they actually saw yahweh coming surfing on a cloud towards egypt

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Or do we understand the dramatic dramatic prophetic hyperbole that this is judgment talk

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When you see this is big for people in arizona, everyone in phoenix gets this

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You get this right think about in arizona during monsoon season Is it epic or what?

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To see to go out of your house and to see half the world black

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And you see that darkness Climbing over the entire city. Have any of you guys ever been driving in the middle of a monsoon?

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Is that epic or what? Where you're driving and you see that black wall coming at you and you actually have to pull the car over And all of a sudden that blackness descends upon your vehicle and blows past you and you're in darkness in the middle of the day

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It is awesome Or when you see the clouds coming over the city to just dump on us

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What what do you what what do you feel when you see that like? Oh my goodness This is like this is this is a phenomenon.

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This is an amazing moment It feels like darkness gloom clouds Judgment, the symbol of that is used by god to actually talk about judgment

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Falling on people so god comes riding on a swift cloud against egypt And it says the heart of the egyptians is going to melt within them literally melts

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Like into their bellies Their hearts are going to literally melt into their bellies. Do we understand the language is being used here?

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God speaks this way in terms of judgment. Also god uses pagan nations as Instruments of judgment upon his people a couple examples go to it later in jeremiah 25 9

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Nebuchadnezzar is called god's servant. That's weird pagan king

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A wicked pagan king who wants worship is god's servant

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According to jeremiah 25 9 god calls nebuchadnezzar his servant to do what judge his people

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I raised you up. You're my servant to do what to judge my covenant people another one. Habakkuk 1 6

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God raises up the chaldeans against the land There's another example of god raising up chaldeans to do what to judge his people

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They're his they're in his hands and the famous one. I love this one and isaiah 10 just go read it later

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God actually talks about Assyria And he raises it up against his people and he sends assyria against his people to judge

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Them and then he turns around and he judges Assyria for doing what for the wickedness of their hearts

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So in this fallen world, you got wicked people all evil and god goes with god's like holding on to a rabid dog

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He's holding back that rabid dog It wants to devour and destroy everything and he's holding it back and he's holding it back and holding it back

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But when he sees his people being sinful, he goes. All right. I'll give you what you want And he lets the dog go destroys and then he pulls it back and then he spanks the dog for the wickedness

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Do you see? God uses sinful people in this fallen world He allows sin for what for his own purposes and he we never thank him for this james points this out a lot

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We never thank him enough for the fact that he stops people from doing What's in their heart all the time?

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We don't thank him enough for that quick thing here on symbolism metaphor and hyperbole People get worried about this when you talk about symbolism in the bible metaphor in the bible.

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Listen closely I'm going to just say this very humbly and I mean this so sincerely because I know how important this is

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We all recognize the damage that liberal theology has done to the bible over the last 150 years

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It has been devastating to god's people People go to the bible and they think they can just turn it into metaphor and symbol

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They think they could just mangle the text. They don't want to obey the words of god I want to just say as I start saying this, please hear me on this.

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I recognize the damage of the corrupt liberal theologians over the last century

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I recognize that but listen just because they've abused the bible with their um with their uh

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Symbol and their metaphor and all the rest doesn't mean that now we have to go the opposite direction

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And become such literalists that we can't recognize the bible speaking Biblically now follow me on this and I think this is actually kind of fun

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The question is not literal interpretation versus symbolic Interpretation.

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So let's get that out of our minds right now. It's not literal Versus symbolic like I interpret the bible literally brothers and sisters try doing that with the song of solomon

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Try interpreting the bible literally through the book of proverbs. You're going to have some trouble We have to recognize wisdom literature where it's at.

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We have to recognize metaphor where it's at symbolic language where it's at So it's not a question of literal versus figurative or symbolic.

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It's a question of whether we're going to interpret the bible Biblically, or we're just going to be creative We need to interpret the bible

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Biblically, in other words when I come to the book of acts, I see historical narrative when i'm looking at luke

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I see historical narrative when I look at proverbs. I see wisdom literature When I look at song of solomon,

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I see some great stuff for marriage You guys haven't been reading the song of solomon have you married couples start reading it it's good for you we need to recognize it's not literal versus Figurative it is biblical versus creative and I say biblical

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So i'll give you an example here. Listen, we all know this you got it We know this i'm not teaching you anything new

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But just I want you to hold this together as you come to the text. Are you ready? Here we go. Jesus is the door

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Like with wood and hinges doorknob Or do you know what that means?

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Do you get it? Jesus is the door or how about this one? Jesus is the lamb of god. Really?

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Like We have to brush him Walk him a lot. No, that's not what that means.

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It's a symbol and it means something and god gave that symbol. It has meaning Our god is a consuming fire literally

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Fire I thought god is spirit Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags

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You know what that word is It's the used women's menstrual garments Those are our righteousness before holy god literally

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No We know what the symbol means It's supposed to testify to something because we know what the thing is and it symbolizes something else

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Jesus is the good shepherd and we are the sheep He's the good shepherd and we're the sheep.

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We're in his sheep fold Do we make sheep noises? Do we need baths?

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Well, yes, but now you know i'm saying like like literally or is it actually supposed to testify to something about a shepherd and sheep?

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Relationship that you understand another one false teachers or wolves

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We're looking for fur and teeth or do we understand that wolves come to destroy the sheep they prey on other creatures

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How about false teachers referred in jude to clouds without water? Do you get what it means?

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They don't offer you anything If you're looking for things to grow and to develop and to build if you want fruit to develop

48:22

You need clouds with water And jude said these are clouds without water

48:28

Another example is that jesus refers to the covenant breakers of his day and the false teachers as white washed tombs

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You got to get really behind that right because he's not just saying like there's white on the outside of you saying inside there

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Stinking dead corpses. You are rotten. You are dead. You have nothing to offer.

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You're lifeless You are a stinking rotting corpse That's jesus talking to them about whitewashed tombs

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Listen, we got to come we got to come to grips with this brothers and sisters to interpret the bible biblically god is big on symbolism and symbolic language

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Big you already know this again. I'm not teaching you anything new here But let's talk about it in terms of foundations the old testament the temple the sacrificial system the priesthood

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The whole story of abraham and isaac That was a symbol about what god was going to do with his own son

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The priesthood jesus Said in his ministry destroy this temple and I will raise it up and it says in the text

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He was speaking of the temple of his body So here's jesus referring to himself as the true temple

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Here is god actually saying that temple that i'm the real one

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Destroy this one and in three days. I will raise it up God is big on symbolism.

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Peter said that we as christians are all little stones Little stones being built up into god's house christ is the cornerstone

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He's the one that's holding it together and we're all little stones being built up into god's house

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Or how about this god's big in symbolism he just is we got to get used to it and familiar with it

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He's big on symbolism. We can't just all be literalists Give an example baptism and the lord's supper.

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You want to know how big god is on symbolism? He instituted symbolism as a core part of our worship as the people of god on a regular basis

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Baptism and the lord's supper is a huge symbol given to us by god. How do we know?

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What the meaning of these things is do we just get to get creative and just make it up?

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My answer is this Biblically interpret which means god tells us the meaning i'm going to argue this we are not allowed to be creative We're not allowed to just engage in conjecture

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In interpreting scripture, but we need the bible to give the definitions So he defines it.

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For example baptism is our death burial and resurrection. Amen.

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Yes How do we know? Because romans 6 That's what paul says.

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That's how we know the meaning of that baptism the lord's supper jesus says

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Eat my flesh drink my blood. This is my body. This is my blood How do we know it's a symbol interpret it biblically?

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God could not possibly be telling us that this is his literal flesh and literal blood why?

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Because eating human flesh and human blood is an abomination to god And it's actually used as a curse and a judgment on people to eat other human beings

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So could the messiah the perfect law keeper be telling his people to eat human flesh and drink human blood

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No, it's a symbol and in john 6 Jesus tells people that he's the manna from heaven.

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Do you get it? I said god loves symbolism and I just showed you manna fell from heaven for real

52:14

That's not fake. It's not mythology They were going through the desert and manna fell from heaven really he actually really fed them manna from heaven

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And jesus said this ready that whole experience the whole thing with the manna falling from heaven

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That was god telling my story ahead of time Because i'm the true bread from heaven

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And you've got to eat my flesh drink my blood and they're like, ew

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They were they're john 6. They're like Ugh What? eat his flesh

52:49

Weird and jesus basically tells them what he's saying That eating his flesh and drinking his blood is coming to believe in him coming to receive him his life

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His work into their lives. So here's the point in terms of symbolism and metaphor

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Scripture should be telling us what the symbol means We don't get to just be creative now

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It's part of our normal experience and this is where we're going to finally be wrapping this up. So follow me here

53:20

It's part of our normal experience We do it all the time Every single day i'll give you an example of the kind of way the ways that we speak like this in our normal experience

53:31

You might see two boxers At the the pre -fight, right? Uh weigh in and they're in each other's faces right and the guy says something like i'm gonna knock your lights out right

53:45

What does that mean? Lights, i'm gonna knock your light. We all get it, right?

53:50

He's gonna punch his face And knock him out, right? I'm gonna knock your lights out. We use this language

53:56

Uh, there's a I was looking things up for this Don't don't go listen to this song But just as an example, this is common even in the 21st century m &m and little wayne did a song together called drop the world

54:07

Don't listen to it But in the song maybe in the uh, the version where everything's blanked out

54:15

The whole song is like little wayne talking about i'm gonna drop the world on your head little wayne

54:21

He's little How's he gonna drop the world on someone's head? Everyone goes. I know what he's saying, right?

54:28

He's trash talking Right. He's gonna drop the world on your head. We use this imagery and this symbolism.

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I'll knock your lights out I'm gonna drop the world on your head or we say things like this today often that guy's heart is dark

54:43

Like if I slice them open and open them up I look inside and it's a black one as opposed to the pink one

54:49

Right you go. No, no, no. No, no That darkness is a different kind of darkness

54:55

Not pink right not black but he is full of evil wickedness malice bitterness, right?

55:02

We understand what that means because we speak like this or it can even go the other direction Where we're trying to get across a different kind of point but using metaphors symbolism hyperbole

55:12

We'll say to somebody who's being maybe a little uh, grouchy in the morning Maybe to one of our children we'll say well, aren't you a little ray of sunshine?

55:21

Right, aren't you just a little ray of sunshine? What's that mean? Like they're beaming light out of themselves

55:26

No, we're saying actually the opposite is that you're not being very nice right now Little ray of sunshine or somebody says something to us.

55:34

That's not true and we say Or it sounds weird. We go. That's kind of a tough thing to swallow

55:42

Uh, that's hard to swallow like am I gonna eat their idea and I can't get it down, right?

55:47

Like I don't have enough to drink with it we all get what we're saying We're speaking in ways that have real meaning.

55:53

It's a symbol like i've choked on things before that were hard to get down that physical experience becomes now

56:01

Part of the realm of the idea that you're giving me things that are hard to believe

56:07

Now another one war is hell Like gehena Like the lake of fire war is hell.

56:14

No, we know what it means. It's awful It's a horrible experience. Hell war is hell

56:21

Or when we say that criminal is the scum of the earth Think about it.

56:29

We use this language all the time and god does too Throughout the bible he uses dramatic prophetic hyperbole.

56:37

He uses if you're taking notes cosmic deconstruction language to describe his judgments today before we started service today

56:47

I told jerry to read psalm 18

56:55

Psalm 18 And here's what psalm 18 says listen to the words. Listen I will call oh, sorry

57:03

I will love thee. Oh lord my strength The lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.

57:10

Are you getting it? See the language? Rock Fortress deliverer. I get what a rock is.

57:16

I see a fortress that can't be taken down I know what a deliverer is My god my strength in whom

57:22

I will trust my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower I will call upon the lord who is worthy to be praised.

57:31

So shall I be saved from mine enemies. This is david by the way talking about his enemies including

57:37

Saul pause king david enemies Saul here's what he says

57:43

The sorrows of death encompassed me And the floods of the ungod of ungodly men have made me afraid the sorrows of hell encompassed me about The snares of death prevented me in my distress.

57:55

I called upon the lord and cried unto my god He heard my voice out of his temple and my cry came before him even into his ears then the earth listen shook and trembled

58:07

The foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth

58:13

There went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured coals were kindled by it

58:20

He bowed the heavens also and came down And darkness was under his feet and he rode upon a cherub and did fly.

58:33

Yay He did fly upon the wings of the wind He made darkness his secret place his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies

58:43

At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed Hailstones and coals of fire the lord also thundered in the heavens and the highest gave his voice hailstones and coals of fire

58:57

Yay, he sent out his arrows and scattered them and shot out lightnings

59:03

And discomforted them Then the channels of waters were seen and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke

59:11

Oh lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. He sent from above. He took me He drew me out of many waters

59:18

He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them which hated me for they were too strong for me

59:24

Psalm 18 1 through 17. Did you catch it? Lightning did you catch it smoke?

59:31

Did you hear it? cosmic deconstruction Languages, how does david describe god overcoming his enemies including saul?

59:41

He uses cosmic deconstruction language to describe the coming and judgment upon god's enemies now

59:51

Here is something to talk about talk about knowing our bibles Jesus was quoting something in matthew 24 that had been said before God used this kind of dramatic prophetic hyperbole and cosmic deconstruction language to describe his judgment now, follow me

01:00:09

Last points here. It's big. Remember I told you the beginning people say Jeff I get it

01:00:15

All those things you could demonstrate happens Exactly as jesus said but the language of stars and constellations and that kind of cosmic deconstruction

01:00:25

How can that be before 70 ad and I hope you're already hearing it

01:00:30

It's dramatic prophetic hyperbole cosmic deconstruction language that is common, but here's what's more important I left this for the ends follow me on this if You're Jewish and you're raised reading the

01:00:45

Torah and the Tanakh When Jesus said this I'll read it to you

01:00:51

Follow me on this when Jesus said in Matthew 24

01:00:59

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the Sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from Heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken

01:01:07

Listen, if you're Jewish and you know the prophets and you're hearing Jesus describe judgment in that generation

01:01:14

You should have gone. Um I know where he's quoting from Jesus was quoting from the

01:01:23

Old Testament prophets in other words watch Jesus didn't invent this

01:01:29

Language in this moment. He's using language that was used about this is huge God used against pagan nations to destroy them

01:01:39

He now flips the script and now that same language God used about Egypt and Babylon he flips the script and now that word is being used against Israel Hear it

01:01:54

This is important the judgment upon and fall of Babylon to the

01:02:01

Medes in 539 BC. Here's what God says Behold the day of the

01:02:07

Lord cometh Cruel both with wrath and fierce anger To lay the land desolate and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

01:02:17

Here it is for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof

01:02:23

Shall not give their light The Sun shall be darkened in his goings forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine

01:02:34

That's Isaiah 13 9 through 11. That's God talking about his judgment upon Babylon in 539

01:02:42

BC. Do you hear the constellation language? Do you hear the darkening of the constellations? Did you hear the cosmic deconstruction language there that was used?

01:02:51

Against Babylon question. Did God destroy Babylon? Yes Question was the cosmic deconstruction literal.

01:03:01

No another example This is Ezekiel's prophecy against Egypt son of man take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt and saying to him thou art like a young lion of the nations and thou art as a whale in the seas and Thou came as forth with thy rivers and troubleless waters with thy feet and foulest their rivers

01:03:23

Thus says the Lord God. I will spread out my net over thee with a company of Many people and they shall bring thee upon up in my net.

01:03:32

Then I'll leave thee upon the land I'll cast thee forth upon the open field and it says this

01:03:38

I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains and fill the valleys with thy height I will also water with thy blood the land where thou swimmest even to the mountains and the rivers shall be full of thee and when

01:03:49

I shall put thee out I will cover the heaven and Make the stars thereof dark and I will cover the

01:03:56

Sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give her light All the bright lights of heaven will make while I make dark over thee and set darkness upon thy land

01:04:05

Sayeth the Lord God Ezekiel 32 1 through 8 there it is again

01:04:12

There is God speaking with dramatic prophetic hyperbole Cosmic deconstruction language to describe judgment upon pagan nations.

01:04:20

What's powerful about Matthew 24? Is that Jesus now uses the same language?

01:04:26

against them the same language against them now

01:04:35

I Want to tie this together with a final point and this one

01:04:41

I want you to see Acts chapter 2 Which I know is not in Matthew 24, but I wanted to give you a so what that had?

01:04:53

Genuine significance and meaning I want you to see this because it is so important in terms of our mission

01:05:00

That's what this is all about our mission Acts 2 What is acts to contain the story of what's it about?

01:05:08

Anyone know acts to? Pentecost now listen, listen to what Peter does here all these amazing signs and wonders start happening

01:05:17

The Spirit of God falls upon people of God has promised and they come out speaking in tongues Which were other known?

01:05:26

languages That was the glory of it The nations were all coming in for this made this amazing moments the

01:05:32

Spirit of God falls and now they can preach the good news in all those languages so they can communicate

01:05:38

Christ and in one Day, all these people get saved and then boom explosion.

01:05:43

They go back all over the Empire and spread the gospel in one day Amazing, but now all of a sudden the

01:05:50

Spirit of God falls are speaking Languages and the people are like tripping they go this is kind of chaos right now.

01:05:57

Are y 'all drinking? Right, you guys drunk. Is that what's happening here?

01:06:02

It seems like chaos and what Peter does I want you to see acts 2 verse 14 and we're gonna end on this but Peter standing with the eleven lifted up his voice and addressed them men of Judea and all

01:06:19

Jerusalem let this be known to you and give ear to my words for these people are not drunk as you suppose

01:06:26

Since it's only the third hour of the day but this is what was uttered through the

01:06:32

Prophet Joel and In the last days that shall be God declares that I'll pour out my spirit and all flesh

01:06:39

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams

01:06:45

Even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy and I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below Blood and fire and vapor of smoke

01:06:59

The Sun shall be turned to darkness the moon to blood Before the day of the Lord comes the great and magnificent day and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name

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Of the Lord shall be saved. Here is Peter at Pentecost quoting from Joel 2

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What's Joel 2 about? It's about the coming of judgment upon the covenant breakers as Messiah enters into his mission.

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The covenant breakers are going to be destroyed and judged We need to understand when it says the last days

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It's not talking about the last days of human history is talking about the last days of the

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Old Covenant age What did Jesus say? the end of the age which age

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The Old Covenant age what were they being prepared for the age of the Messiah the rule and reign of the

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Messiah and I want you to see it in The text because it's right here in the text as Peter preaches this to those

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Jews And he warns them about the coming judgment upon them and why the

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Spirit of God is now among them in this way He then does this he tells him about Christ who rose again from the dead and I want you to see what he quoted

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Look here in verse 34 of chapter 2 for David did not ascend into the heavens

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But he himself says the Lord said to my Lord sit in my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool

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Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah this

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Jesus Whom you crucified now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the

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Apostles brothers What shall we do and Peter said to them? Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of the

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G of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins You'll receive the promise of the Holy Spirit So here's the point all this talk of judgment upon the covenant breakers from the

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Olivet Discourse the Great Tribulation That flows throughout the New Testament and listen closely and we're finished

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That was the start of Peter's story at Pentecost You killed the

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Messiah You're about to be judged Joel 2 says that the last days

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God's and pours spirit out. That's what you're seeing right now And he says and then what blood fire pillars of smoke

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Judgments coming upon you you killed the Messiah. He's ascended. He's at the right hand

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He's ruling on his throne right now, and he's placing all of his enemies under his feet.

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That's being fulfilled right now He's the Davidic King and they were like, oh my goodness What must we do to be saved?

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Because the story of Israel culminates in the kingdom of God And if you want to say pastor

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Jeff, why is this matter to me? Why so much time in Matthew 24? How does it relate to me where I'm at now?

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I want to say it has Everything to do with where you're at now you are in Christ through faith a member of the

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New Covenant a recipient of it Your sins are forgiven

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He does not count them against you. God's written his law in your heart now is no longer on stone tablets

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God kept his promises to bring salvation and judgment with Messiah The judgment fell upon the covenant breakers exactly as promised

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God did away with that temple. He did away with that priesthood system He did away with the animal sacrifices all that those are pointing to were summed up in Jesus Christ all the hopes of Israel about the kingdom of God and justice and righteousness and peace and Salvation around the entire world are now in motion in Jesus Christ to catch this you're saved

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You're forgiven. You know Jesus who's the king of the world? He kept his promises

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He's ruling and reigning now putting his enemies under his feet So watch this far from being a section of Scripture that should bring you terror

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We should be looking at Matthew 24 Luke 21 mark 13 as the victory of Jesus He said it it happened.

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He is vindicated. He's the king. He's on his throne So what's left fear of the future?

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No the hope of the victory of Messiah This has everything to do with us if we can see that you don't have to face the

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Olivet Discourse with fear of the future if We can see that it already occurred as promised in history and that Jesus is reigning now watch it

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Reorients us doesn't it? Think about it If now you realize the

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Messiah is on his throne reigning Bringing salvation to all the tribes tongues peoples and nations.

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Does that reorient you in terms of your focus? mothers and fathers

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You should be building your little patch of garden. God has given to you cultivating it growing it

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Expanding it out into the world Might be saying it's mothers and fathers. I don't have any children

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How do I raise them up and send them into the world? How do I cultivate this garden? Well, I don't know what

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God specifically has planned for you, but how about you adopt some babies? How's that for it? How's that sound? How about you make some babies?

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Adopt some babies send those babies out into the world And if you can't disciple these little ones given to you on your care, how about you go make some disciples?

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How about you go win the nations for Jesus? How about we look at the world now in different of different way where we say it's not under the domain of Satan It's under the rule of Jesus He's the king he rules over all it should reorient us

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So when we see injustice around us or evil around us, we bring the good news of his kingdom there

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And we have to ask the question. Is it is there any area of life? Outside of the rule of Jesus Christ and the answer is no

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Far from being a section of Scripture that should drive us to fear of the future This section of Scripture is supposed to be one of those things that holds us up saying

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I know Jesus is the Messiah Why because of Matthew 24 he kept his promise

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So what do we have now ahead of us watch? I'll just end of this people have said that before they have They've said that to me before when you show them what the text says truly word for word they'll say well

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Well, if it already happened, then what's the point? What now and I love that question what now is go win the world to Jesus What now is cultivate and grow the garden gave you the garden

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God gave you What now is serve and love the king? What now is you be part of the mission of God that says that the earth will be full of the knowledge of God Like the waters cover the sea he shall have dominion from sea to sea from the river to the ends of the earth

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To him shall be the obedience of the nations. Is it an accident then that Jesus left us with these words all

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Authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me

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Therefore go go therefore make disciples of all the nations

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Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and he says lo

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I'm with you always even unto the end of the age Let's pray father. I thank you Lord for your word.

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Pray you use this message for your glory and your kingdom. I Pray that Lord what went out today